There are two basic ways of preparing a drink from a dispensing machine:    by using single-portion cartridges, or paper pods, or “capsules” which are pre-packaged containers of ingredient either instant (such as for instance a cappuccino pre-mixed water-soluble powder, or powdered milk) or fresh (such as roast and ground coffee, or mint-tea, or yerba mate), or liquid (such as a chocolate or coffee concentrate);    by using the same or similar ingredients in a preparation or brewing chamber, which is usually but non necessarily sealable and performing its function under pressure.
Both system use inlet and outlet means respectively for the solvent and for the prepared drink, which may be easy to devise for the skilled in the Art.
The present invention relates to both types of drink preparation methods.
Patent application no. US2007/248734(A1) exemplifies one recurrent theme found in several other patents, including application no. WO2007/063411 by the Applicant: that is methods to increase the amount of froth in a coffee-based or other drinks. Nothing is mentioned about the opposing aim to reduce to its maximum the froth formation, which is considered a draw-back in these applications which seek methods to create a frothy espresso.
Patent applications U.S. Pat. No. 518,696 (A), IT1257648 (B) or WO2005/107540 describe machines dispensing both regular coffee and espresso coffee but they do so through the use of so-called “combined technology”, that is to separate preparation chambers: one adapted to accept loose grounds or paper-pods and one suitable for preparing filter-coffee with “drip-type brewing chamber”, utilising the same hydraulic connection. The dispensing units, thus, do not adapt rather provide totally different methods of preparation of the drinks, which in turn generate higher costs, increased maintenance needs, more complicated mechanical and hydraulic construction.
Patent application no. WO2007/110768 A2 by the Applicant describes a process to achieve increased extraction levels of the soluble components of the primary ingredient such as ground coffee and obtain differing levels of froth formation. Although it serves such purpose, such invention is limited in the sense that it assumes limited parameters to control the brew quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,134 discloses a brewing system that includes two water feeding circuits, one for brewing the beverage and a second for adding hot or cold water to the collecting means for the brewed beverage; a single hot water reservoir is provided for both the first and the second circuit and a heat exchanger that is part of the first circuit is immersed in the reservoir for heating the water of the first circuit required for the brewing step. Thus, the temperature of the dilution water in the second circuit is substantially the same as the temperature of the water in the first circuit, or brewing circuit; this reduces the possibility of having differently tasting beverages.
US 2003126993 refers to a brewing system similar to the system of U.S. Pat. No. 6,786,134, having two circuits: one for feeding hot water to the brewing chamber and one for feeding cold water to the beverage collecting means.
A drawback of the known methods comes from the need of preparing drinks of widely different nature, yet using the very same dispensing machine. This is the case for instance—limiting just for instance to coffee, but similar observations are valid for teas, chocolates or fruit juices—of “regular” American coffee having water volumes (or “throws”) up to 10 (approx. 295 cc.), 12 (approx. 354 cc.) or even 20 fl. oz. (approx. 590 cc.), European-styled “lattes” with 7, 9 or 10 fl. oz. and more, and Southern European “ristretto” espresso coffees bearing water “throws” as little as 40, 30 or even 20 or 15 cc.
Another problem of the known art relates to the need of dispensing drinks with different froth level, such as is the case with a chocolate or cappuccino pre-mix drink, an espresso coffee (with froth), a regular coffee, or a leaf-tea or herbal infusion (without froth). A still further problem is related to the need for a dispensing machine to adapt to different market needs thus managing different dilution ratios expressed for instance by the amount of grams of fresh ingredient, or the amount of powdered ingredient, or the mix of the aforementioned ingredients, used for the preparation of a drink of varying water volume. Another problem is related to the differing organoleptic results deriving from running differing amounts of water through a certain ingredient, particularly when said ingredient is prone to increasing depletion of its soluble contents and varying quality of the obtained beverage.